I have to admit, I’m not really a fan of this genre of metal, but seeing as this is Cadaveria, I was intrigued to hear their ‘Undead Edition’ of their 2012 release, especially seeing their music video on all the music channels over the last few weeks, and with their black metal influences they did grab my attention.

Starting off with the eerie sounds of the first track ‘Flowers In Fire’, this is one of the songs that made me sit up and pay attention. I do actually like Cadaveria vocals, from her dark haunting sounds, to her black metal screams and higher pitched metal sounds, she does infact have a really good voice. I never really cared for their music videos, abit too mainstream for me with their cheesy and unoriginal style, but their songs do have an interesting sound. After forming in 2001 the band have had a 5 year absence from the metal scene and there is no denying these guys make an impact, with different vocal styles and heavy riffs, it certainly makes for an interesting album.

Taking on a heavier sound ‘The Night's Theatre’ is a catchy tune with great chorus and I particularly liked the clean vocals over the black metal growls. For those who didn’t know, Cadaveria is a female vocalist and shows she can sing great in the gothic style as well as being able to produce the dark gritty sounds of the black metal genre.

The album stays on a darker track with ‘Death Vision’ reminding me slightly of the 90’s band L7, which isn’t a bad thing, with some tracks reminding me of Arch Enemy and you remember the band ‘Kitty’? The album does get harder and faster with intense drumming and heavy, if not predictable guitar riffs and bass line.

Track 5 ‘Assasin’ was one of my personal favourites, with cleaner vocals over the black metal elements, breaking up the album nicely and having some heavier guitar sounds with piano too, before picking up speed again in the next track.

The album flowed well and despite some repetitive in the tracks, the songs are strong enough to stand their own, I just wish some of the guitar riffs were less predictable and the band took afew more risks, as it does sound like they are playing it safe. I do feel that Cadaveria vocals could’ve been better, as she demonstrated some high pitched sounds in the beginning, which weren’t heard again and although the album has great production, the vocals do seem to be over shadowed and slightly lost by the music.

By mid album, on track 7 ‘Apocalypse’ I do start to tire of their sound slightly, but this isn’t a bad song, just nothing original tbh and has influences of ‘Cradle of Filth’, but does have a nice atmospheric feel throughout, but feel the album is starting to lack energy and originality.

Towards the few last tracks, I could quite happily have skipped until track 11. Hypnotic Psychosis takes on a different path, until the same lyrically tone comes in, but despite this I’m still not that impressed. The album ends with the two previously unreleased remix tracks, 'Whispers Of Sin (Ancestral Remix)' and 'Hypnotic Psychosis (Chaotic Remix)',which aren’t bad, but does leave the album ending on an abrupt note, making me think…is that it? Is it over now?

I thought a slower, more gothic/atmospheric feeling would have rounded up the album better…but ohh well.

For me personally, I will always see this band in the ‘mainstream’ category, but they are a good way of showing horror/gothic/black metal to fans who don’t know this side of metal, so it’s not always a bad thing. I was prepared to dislike this album, but I have to admit there are some great tracks on here and an album I’m happy I checked out! But for me it does sound quite disjointed and it is hard to categorise this band, as they aren’t death metal and definitely not a band I would put with my black metal collection, but they do have elements of both.

Cadaveria commented on the album saying: “We entered the studio to re-record the drum parts on 'Whispers Of Sin' and we are proud to say that this song now sounds more direct and captivating than ever, in one word: more 'ancestral'. Also I re-recorded the vocals on 'Hypnotic Psychosis'. We cut off all the 'New Wave' reminiscences from this track, to get an extremely aggressive and chaotic mood!”

I think this certainly reflected in some of the tracks, making them much better than I anticipated.

A video for the song ‘Death Vision’ will follow the album release, as well as the band performing some live shows, and I would in fact like to see them live.

I’d not recommend this album for established metal fans as I could imagine them not being too impressed with this release, especially for those who are into their black metal, but I’d recommend for those who aren’t too elitist with their music, or who are already a fan of this band, then yeh…give this an album ago, but for real metal fans out there…you know there are bands out there, who do this already…and a lot better too!

Review by Jo Blackened

Track Listing

1. Flowers In Fire
2. The Night's Theatre
3. Death Vision
4. Whispers Of Sin
5. Assasin
6. The Days Of The After And Behind
7. Apocalypse
8. The Oracle (Of The Fog)
9. Requiem
10. This Is Not The Silence
11. Hypnotic Psychosis
12. Whispers Of Sin (Ancestral Remix)
13. Hypnotic Psychosis (Chaotic Remix)